6 things to know about your Cathay Pacific First Class mistake fare

It's your first mistake fare. What do you want to know?

I’m still finding it hard to believe that Cathay Pacific has agreed to honor those S$1.6K First Class fares out of Vietnam. Some part of me still thinks it’s a prank, or that the airline’s social media channels got hacked, or that my life as I know it is actually a big computer simulation and someone just installed XP.

And yet here we are. The fares are real. The flights are happening. Now, we move into the next stage of mistake fares– the planning.

I’m sure many of us bought these tickets on a  whim, and may not have given serious thought to the logistics behind what we’re about to embark on. So here’s my take on some questions you might have- I booked myself from HAN-HKG-SFO, so I’m going to use that as my example.

Can I start my journey in Hong Kong?

Nope. These fares are strictly for travel out of Vietnam. If you think you’re being clever by skipping the first leg and showing up directly at the Hong Kong airport, you’re going to have a rude shock awaiting you. Once you miss a leg, the rest of your journey is cancelled.

Just accept the fact you have to start in Vietnam- those are the rules of your windfall.

Can I end my journey in Hong Kong?

Now this is a slightly more interesting question. Technically, yes- if you have no check-in luggage.

What happens when you check in at SFO is that your bags will be tagged all the way through to HAN. You can try asking them to short check your bags to HKG, but barring some sort of miracle they’re not going to let you. It’s a standard airline policy not to short check bags, precisely because they don’t want people to engage in throwaway ticketing.

If you have no check-in luggage then there’s nothing stopping you from skipping your HKG-HAN flight at the end of your journey and just getting onboard your HKG-SIN flight.

How long a connection should I plan for in Vietnam?

This is a crucial question, and the answer depends on several factors:

  1. Do you have check-in luggage?
  2. If you do, does the airline you’re flying to HAN have an interline agreement with Cathay Dragon?
  3. If it doesn’t, which Vietnam airport are you flying into?

With regards to (1)- If you don’t have check-in luggage, then your connection is as simple as following the signs for transit and entering the departure area for your onward Cathay Dragon flight. Be sure to print out your boarding passes before your leave Singapore.

With regards to (2)– If you do have check-in luggage and your airline has an interline agreement with Cathay Dragon/Pacific, then you can check your bag straight through to SFO when you get to the airport in SIN. You then follow the signs for transit in Vietnam, as if you had no check-in bags. Ditto on printing the boarding passes.

How do you know which airlines have interline agreements with Cathay Dragon/Pacific? You can fire up the trusty KVS Tool (which we cover during Power Award Searching), and look under the Reference section…

Vietnam Airlines Interline Agreements- note KA (Cathay Dragon) and CX (Cathay Pacific)

…or if you’re too cheap to buy KVS Tool you can use the table I put together below. I’m guessing you want a direct flight from SIN to SGN/DAD/HAN so I’ve only included airlines for which that’s a possibility:

Interline to CX/KA?SGNDADHAN
Singapore Airlines/Silk AirYesYesYes
Vietnam AirlinesYesN/AYes
Viet JetNoN/ANo
JetstarNoNoN/A
ScootNoN/ANo

With regards to (3)– this becomes more of an issue where there’s no interline agreement and you need to claim your bags in Vietnam and recheck them to Cathay Dragon/Pacific. The minimum connecting times (MCTs) for international to international flights are all the same regardless of which Vietnam airport you picked:

  • HAN: 60 mins
  • DAD: 60 mins
  • SGN: 60 mins

But keep in mind these MCTs assume you’ve checked your bags through. If not, you need to budget time for both inbound and outbound immigration (great time to have an APEC Travel card…), you need to budget time for luggage collection, you need to budget time for check-in and you need to budget time for walking. You may even need to factor in the possibility of landing at a remote gate.

Moreover, you’re going to want to factor in the layout and relative traffic of each airport. SGN is by far the busiest of the three, followed by HAN, then DAD. More passengers means longer queues at immigration, more bags to unload, more people to shove past…

My advice? Give yourself at least 2 hours to make your connection. Trust me, you don’t want to gamble with this. I tried a 1h 45 min connection before with the Philly Pho Fare (also out of Hanoi) which almost ended in disaster, and I want to save you all the panic and anxiety I went through as my flight into HAN landed late.

Can I change my dates?

No, you can’t.

Or rather, you can, but you’re going to have to pay a $100 change fee, plus the fare difference. The former isn’t the problem; the latter is. Remember, you bought, for all intents and purposes, a deep discount First Class fare. Want to change your dates? Sure- pay the fare difference between your current fare and the regular First Class price. Yeah, I thought not. For more information, have a read of Dom’s analysis over at HK Travel Blog.

This, by the way, is why it’s crucial that you plan your connection in Vietnam properly. If your underbudget it and miss your Cathay flight, there’s a US$300 no-show fee, plus the difference in fares to rebook yourself. In other words, miss your connection in Vietnam and there goes your mistake fare.

Which frequent flyer program should I credit my miles to?

Your Cathay First Class fares code under the A bucket, although remember that your Business Class leg from Vietnam to Hong Kong should code under J. Here’s some ideas where to put them…

FFPAccrual RateApprox Total Miles (HAN-HKG-SFO)
American AAdvantage150%-A
125%-J
22,100
Asia MilesN/A- Asia Miles now offers fixed miles by distance flown25,040

Alaska Mileage Plan
350%48,490 (HAN-HKG is on KA, which won’t earn Alaska Miles)
British Airways Avios150%- A
125%- J
22,100
Japan Airlines Mileage Bank150%
125%-J
22,100

To me, it’s a no-brainer to put these into Alaska Mileage Plan and net yourself almost 50,000 miles in the process. That’s slightly under two round trips to Japan on JAL, or even a one-way Business Class ticket on Cathay to the US, assuming you can find space.

What are the must-dos at the CX First lounges in HKG?

Cathay Pacific operates two different First Class lounges in HKG. They’re not close to each other, so don’t waste time trying to see both on the same visit- plan one for your outbound leg, one for your inbound leg.

The Pier

Louis visited The Pier recently, and it seems the highlights would be:

  • Getting a 10 minute massage at The Retreat

  • Tucking into a made-to-order meal in The Dining Room

  • Taking a nap in one of the day suites, complete with tarmac view
Photo credit: Up for a feed

The Wing has many similar features to The Pier eg on-demand dining, business facilities, a library, but also has its own party tricks including:

  • Taking a long bath in a private cabana

  • Putting away three types of champagne at The Champagne Lounge

Conclusion

If this is your first ever mistake fare, congratulations! It’s especially thrilling the first time, even if you’ve flown First/Business Class on miles before. Please be very careful with your mistake fare- it’s a fragile creature, and missing a leg, or not being able to make a particular date could see it go up in flames.

So there you have it- I hope this post has helped answer some of your questions, but if not feel free to post them below!

Aaron Wong
Aaron Wong
Aaron founded The Milelion to help people travel better for less and impress chiobu. He was 50% successful.

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Lee

Quick question, does Cathay Dragon flights earn Alaskan miles ? If not your calculations might be off…

Joel

While the HKG-SFO and SFO-HKG sectors are coded under the A fare bucket. The HAN-HKG and HKG-HAN sectors are coded under the J fare bucket. Would the approximate total miles earned be slightly less than that reflected in your table?

R

Found that SQ has always been happy to short-check my bags, when flying premium classes. Wonder if that has anything to do with a Singaporean taking a stop in Singapore?

George

Can we still add in / change the frequent flyer program after purchasing the tickets?

S

On the return leg – connecting from CX F to Vietnam airlines operated CX marketed J, should this get access to CX F lounge in HK?

Dan

Does it need to be a “Connecting between oneworld marketed and operated flights”

First and Business Class customers connecting on the same day of travel, or before 6am the following day, can access the lounge when travelling between an international long haul (a oneworld international long haul flight is defined as an international flight marketed and operated by any oneworld carrier with a scheduled flight time longer than 5 hours) and an international short haul or domestic flight (and vice-versa).

Vietnam Airlines is not part of oneworld ?

Happy Camper

Congrats to all who managed to snag what is likely the fare of the year.. truly awesome!

Now for the bad news.. wef 24 Jan, KF is upping the number of miles needed for award tickets..

Return Biz Saver to JP will ‘cost’ 8.000 more miles, Return Biz Saver to EU will cost 14,000 more miles..

😫💦

freedom

Not only you earn RDM on Alaska, you earn EQM on Alaska, too. Possible to include elite qualification on various programs, too?

Thanks.

Josh

For those of us not so good with numbers, why is the AS earning not 16144 (the distance between HKG and JFK return) multiplied by 3.5 (350%), or 56504? For example, see https://milestalk.com/what-you-need-to-know-yes-cathay-pacific-is-honoring-the-deal/.

Dan

1) Seems like we get access to both the first class lounge at HKG – The Wing, The Pier and business class lounge – The Wing, The Pier, The Deck and the Bridge ?

2) Do we only get access to the American Airlines Flagship Lounge at JKF or are there more that we can go into ?

3) Is the Marco Polo club different from the Asia Miles ? Can it be stacked with Alaska Miles ?

Jtlyn

Thanks, Aaron! Super helpful tips.

Tango

The garuda flights look like they’re codeshares on VN metal

KK

Is it possible to change the names on my mistake fare tickets?

Linda

Thanks Aaron for another great post, very useful!

I managed to snag dad-hkg-jfk for $845pp and was wondering where to credit the miles.

L

Linda

Lol agreed, even at the highest price point during those few hours was still worth it and I would not have hesitated to book.

Danang is my favourite city in Vietnam, so I automatically searched from that departure point. I guess it worked out nicely 😀

Thanks again for such an amazing website, I’m a huge fan!

Joel Koh

Anyone else going to try “throwing away” the last sector from HKG-HAN/DAD/SGN?

Anyone tried short checking bags to hkg? Or the crazy stories on FT which involve people gg to transfer desks to drop the last leg and retag the bag?

Also anyone know if dropping the last leg would make cathay recalculate the fare based on sectors taken?

Linda

Im also considering dropping the last leg, but my flight isn’t until November.

Hopefully people will post their experiences throughout the year.

Alvin

I am planning to Accrue KA (Vietnam – Hongkong – Vietnam) to marcopolo and CX (Hongkong – Canada – Hongkong) to Alaska Milleage Plan. is it possible to do so? or shall I claim everything after the flights.

Linda

I was able to choose a different frequent flyer program for each sector via Cathay website.

L

Matt

Hi Aaron, thanks for the succinct article! Quick question: If I were to skip the final leg of HKG-HAN, would I be charged the USD 300 no-show fee?

Matt

Thanks Aaron! Definitely not going to do a rebook. I called CX customer hotline to ask about the no-show fee for a confirmation. Indeed there is no no-show charge or any penalties if I choose to forfeit the last leg (HKG-HAN). But they did mention it’s at the HK’s immigration’s discretion whether to let me clear immigration at HK since I’m supposed to be transiting. Do you or anyone here have experience with this? It feels more like a “scare tactic” to prevent me from forfeiting my flight but I don’t want to take any risks if possible.

Matt Hoffmann

As long as you have a valid visa/visa exempt and onward tickets within 90 days HK immigration doesn’t care

Matt

Thanks Matt! This puts my mind to ease!

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